The cold light of day
Carly felt terrible. She had awoken in her own bed, fatigued and drained of energy and an instant later, she recalled the events of the night before and was filled with horror. She saw the mask on the floor - apparently just a wooden mask as it had been when she first saw it. She hastily got up and hurried to the bathroom to check herself all over. Her reflection was definitely back to normal – her soft, blond hair was visible again and her pale face was just as it always had been, albeit with dark circles around the eyes. No longer was she a shocking apparition in green. But the traces of sex were still there, on her body and the agonising thought that filled her mind and would not go away was how she and Kendra had violated poor Jack.
"Oh my God… I raped him. We both did. The poor sweet thing, how could I?" She demanded of herself and then, thoroughly sickened, had to run to the toilet to vomit. After that, she plopped face down onto her bed, her face buried in the pillow, sobbing hard. Vivid images from the night before reared up from her memory. Kendra, her appearance freakishly altered, on top of Jack and wrestling him down… The vision of Jack beneath her own legs, bound hands and feet, his white face paint badly smudged, his tears soaking the pillow… and yet it was as though she hadn't cared. She had felt a burning lust and a desperate, irrational desire to satiate it, no matter what… "What sort of monster am I?" she demanded fiercely, although there was no one to hear.
Unable to endure her own company any longer, she decided to ring Kendra, the only person in the world who had been equally guilty in all this. There was no answer. Unable to bear doing nothing, Carly decided to make her way to Kendra's house herself. She staggered slightly as she walked, but met with no mishap before arriving. Kendra greeted her, bleary eyed, her dark, curly hair dishevelled. "Wha… Carly aren't you tired?" she said crossly. "Looks like those masks only work at night. Still, I feel completely wasted. What can you possibly want?"
"Of course I'm tired and thoroughly sickened, but that doesn't matter" hissed Carly. "We have to talk."
She was in no mood to be resisted and Kendra had to usher her inside. "We both did something terrible," said Carly without preamble, as soon as they were indoors. "You know it well. We r-raped Jack last night."
"Raped?" said Kendra, looking thoroughly taken aback. "No… he must have wanted it."
"Don't talk such rubbish to me," said Carly hysterically. "He was terrified! We forced him. I did it too!"
"Nuh – uh, men can't be raped," said Kendra shaking her curly head from side to side.
"Oh for crying out loud!" stormed Carly. "Don't you even know what happens in prisons? When men are sent to those rape camps, what do other inmates do to them?"
"Oh they can be raped by other men, everyone knows that. But women can't be predators," said Kendra.
"Where are you getting such rubbish?" demanded Carly. "Is it denial?"
Kendra's tone began to get heated. "If you say that that was rape, last night, you are making light of what women go through when they are raped. And don't say you didn't want to do it at the time."
Irresistibly, Carly felt her mind drawn back to the night before, when sating her lust had seemed so all-important that she could disregard Jack's tears… She felt sick again and tears filled her own eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
Kendra pressed her advantage; "and if you fall pregnant, well that's what you want, isn't it? We both sort of got caught up in the moment, but if we get children from this, we can claim benefits and I don't mind Jack's genes in my baby. According to the law, he has no grounds for complaint, even if he knew it was us. But we are entitled to government hand-outs if we're pregnant. It's not as though you're making him marry you, are you?"
Carly stomach heaved as she better realised the full extent of what had happened and the sanctity of the innocence she had lost forever. Marry him? Before all this happened, what would she have thought of the idea of her crush marrying a rapist? She would have thought it a ridiculous and disgusting idea. "I don't deserve to face him," she muttered. "You're right that the law doesn't recognise rape if a woman does it, but that shows the law makers are plain stupid. How can we make up for this?"
"Oh lighten up!" said Kendra irritably. "One weird night out and you're completely bowled over. It'll be fine."
"We can't use those masks again, ever," said Carly firmly.
"Well there's no reason to right now and it was tiring," said Kendra with a yawn. "We're not in trouble, if that's what's worrying you. We have power now."
Disquieted by the attitude of her friend, Carly resolved that she must somehow come clean or her conscience would kill her. The only was to do this that she could think of, was to make a full confession to Jack and try to express how bitterly she regretted everything. At school the next day she felt less groggy and more determined. She wondered whether Jack would attend school that day given everything that had happened to him, but to her relief, there he was, looking as though he had hardly slept, so pale his freckles really showed. She hurried up to him in the hallway. "Jack, we need to talk, somewhere private," she told him. He stared at her blankly, his green eyes had a haunted expression and there were dark circles around his eyes. His auburn hair was slightly dishevelled. He hadn't taken good care of it today. "It's urgent!" Carly insisted. "I think the library is the place." She took him by the hand and he mechanically followed her lead. They sat down in a quiet corner in the library, behind a shelf of old tomes that no one read. "How are you?" asked Carly, peering intently at his exquisitely sculpted face.
"Um... fine," he muttered.
"No you're not," said Carly. "I know what happed the night before last," Jack jumped. "I was there, I mean, it was me, in the white gown and that freaky mask," Carly stuttered. Jack was staring at her transfixed. Carly worried that he was having a seizure and waved her hand in front of his eyes. "You- " he said hoarsely, the deadened look in his eyes more pronounced.
"I am sorry, really sorry," said Carly wretchedly, beginning to cry. "I can never tell you how much. I know that that doesn't make it OK, nothing will. And you'll never forgive me, I don't deserve it, but I am afraid…" She took a deep breath. It was hard enough confessing what she had done herself, but telling on Kendra felt even more awkward. She didn't tell tales… but there were more important considerations. "Kendra was there too - I – I mean, in black leather and also in a green mask and I'm afraid she might put it on again. It's horrible, but she didn't even seem sorry." She touched Jack's hand again and he flinched as well he might…
"I don't want to talk about it, you can't tell anyone," he said.
"I don't think anyone would believe it," said Carly. "No one wants to think about the whole thing about a girl rapist," she paused, noting that Jack looked nauseous. "Whatever happens, Kendra can't be allowed to use the mask again," she urged. Was Jack listening? Was he registering this? What could be done to prevent the masked menace from rising again another night?